The present invention relates to a ball-catching glove suitable for use in baseball or softball games.
In conventional ball-catching gloves of this type, a ball-catching, palm portion is made of a natural leather such as cowhide, and a rear portion is either made of a natural leather, such as above, or a synthetic leather and joined to the palm portion to form a body. A core made of felt or the like is built inside the glove at a desired position. Hitherto, various proposals have been made in order to prevent deformation of the glove after repeated use in ball-catching actions and to protect the user from injuries such as finger sprains.
For instance, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 8931/1955 has been proposed to prevent the risk of glove deformation or a finger sprain by the following structure. Elastic members, such as pieces of flat steel wire, are inserted into wrapping portions formed on the rear side of the glove by utilizing the layer of leather forming the rear surface of the body. The elastic members are completely wrapped in the portions and held in place by sewing the wrapping portions.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 25330/1980 has been proposed to prevent the similar disadvantages by providing tape-shaped bags of suitable widths and reinforcing them by placing therein plate members, such as thin metal sheets, which have sheath elasticity.
The structure in which elastic members such as flat steel wires are inserted in the wrapping portions serves to provide tensile force. However, the structure provides only inferior shape retaining ability which is not good enough to prevent deformation. This was why the second proposal was made, in which the plate members having elasticity are placed in the tape-shaped bags.
The second proposal, however, has a disadvantage in that the process of sewing the tape-shaped bags onto the body is necessary. In addition, there is the risk that, after the ball-catching glove has been repeatedly bent during use, edge portions of the plate members may break through the bags. Particularly, when metal sheets are used as the plate members, after repeated bending of the glove the members may become plasticly-deformed. In such cases, the glove may become deformed into an incorrect shape and can not be straightened easily.